Forbidden Attraction; one night stand with the Alpha king

Rain's POV My phone screen blurred through the tears. I blinked hard and stared at the paused image, my mind drifting back to just two hours ago when I'd stood in Asher's doorway, his goodbye kiss still warm on my forehead. He'd smiled at me, that easy, charming smile that used to make my heart flutter. "Important meeting, babe. Boring stuff with my father. I'll text you later, okay?" I'd believed him. Of course I had. Why wouldn't I? I pressed play again, watching the video for what had to be the eleventh time. Maybe the twelfth. I'd lost count. The tangled sheets came into focus first. Then the bare skin. Then Celeste's face, flushed and breathless, her red nails dragging down Asher's back while he kissed her neck, her collarbone, her– I locked the screen and pressed the phone against my forehead. The glass felt blessedly cool against my burning skin. An hour ago, I'd called Celeste, thinking we could grab coffee or watch a movie. Something to fill the lonely evening. "Can't, Rain," she'd said, and I remembered how normal she'd sounded. How easy the lie had been. "My cousin's in the hospital. Emergency. I'll call you tomorrow, I promise." Thirty minutes ago, my phone had buzzed with a message from an unknown number. No words. No explanation. Just a video file that shattered everything I thought I knew. Thought you should know, the second message had said. And now I knew. Now I couldn't stop knowing, couldn't stop seeing them together every time I closed my eyes. I raised my empty glass toward the bartender, my hand surprisingly steady despite the alcohol humming through my veins. "Ma'am." He hesitated, the bottle hovering just out of reach. His eyes flicked over my face, probably seeing the red eyes, the tear-stained cheeks. "That's your fifth. Maybe you should slow down. You don't look so good." "Pour it." The words came out sharper than I meant them to. Harsher. "You're drunk, ma'am." "I said pour the damn drink." My voice cracked. A hot tear slid down my cheek before I could stop it. Great. Now I was that girl. Crying alone at a bar while everyone pretended not to notice. He filled my glass, his mouth pressed into a thin, disapproving line. I wrapped both hands around the glass and drank. The burn felt good. Real. At least physical pain made sense. At least alcohol didn't pretend to love you and then f**k your best friend. Maybe it was my fault. I was wolfless after all. What kind of she-wolf couldn't shift? What kind of mate could I possibly be? Asher probably looked at me every day and saw what I was, broken, incomplete, useless. But Celeste? We'd scraped our knees on the same playground. Shared clothes. Secrets. Tears. I'd held her hand through her first heartbreak. Had she held Asher while I was at work? Had they laughed about me? Poor Rain, so clueless, so pathetic, so– I poured another drink with shaking hands. The bar erupted. "Oh my god!" "Is that…." "Alpha Lucian!" My head snapped up. Several women had jumped to their feet, phones already out. "He never comes to places like this." "Holy s**t, he's coming this way." "Do I look okay? Does my hair—" I turned back to my drink. I didn't care if the Alpha himself walked through that door. I didn't care about anything except the blessed numbness creeping through my limbs. I reached for the bottle. My fingers touched glass, but then larger hands, warm, strong, wrapped around it first. "I think you've had enough." That voice. Deep. Smooth. Commanding in a way that made something low in my stomach tighten. I looked up. Grey eyes met mine. Sharp. Intense. Framed by dark lashes that any woman would kill for. Strong jaw. Dark hair that looked soft despite being perfectly styled. And handsome, god, so handsome it almost hurt to look at him directly. Alpha Lucian. Asher's older brother. I'd seen him at pack meetings, always standing apart from everyone else. Cold. Untouchable. The complete opposite of Asher's playful charm. Where Asher was sunshine, Lucian was the moon, beautiful, distant, and dangerous if you got too close. Why was he here? Why was he looking at me like that? I forced my eyes away from his face. Staring at the Alpha was probably disrespectful. Everything I did lately seemed wrong anyway. "Give it back," I said, proud that my words only slurred a little. "No." Just no. Like it was that simple. Like he could just decide things for me. Fine. I still had half a glass left. I grabbed my drink and lifted it toward my mouth. Before the rim touched my lips, he plucked it from my fingers. And drank it himself. I watched, frozen, as he tilted his head back. His throat moved as he swallowed. Once. Twice. The muscles in his neck shifted under smooth skin. Why was I staring at his neck? What was wrong with me? I bit my lip and looked down at the bar. "Who is she?" "I've never seen Alpha Lucian talk to any woman like this." "Do you think she's someone important?" The whispers crawled over my skin. Everyone was watching us. Watching me, the wolfless nobody sitting alone at a bar, drunk off her ass, talking to the most powerful Alpha in the territory. This was mortifying. "You're wasted," Lucian said. His eyes traveled over my face, and I wondered what he saw. Probably red eyes. Smudged mascara. The face of someone whose entire life had collapsed in the span of a text message. "Look at you." Heat flooded my cheeks. I knew I looked pathetic. I didn't need him to point it out. "Get up. We're leaving." My heart stuttered. "What?" "You heard me. Come on." I shook my head, immediately regretting it as the room tilted. "No. I'm fine here." "You're drunk and alone in a bar. That's the opposite of fine." He stepped closer. His scent hit me, pine and something darker, richer. It made my head spin worse than the alcohol. "Get up, Rain." He knew my name. Why did he know my name? "Please." My voice cracked. "Just leave me alone." For a moment, I thought he might actually listen. His jaw tightened. His eyes searched my face. Then he bent down. "Wait, what are you—" He lifted me like I weighed nothing. One arm under my knees, one behind my back, and suddenly I was in the air, then draped over his shoulder. "Put me down!" I gasped, but the words came out weak. His shoulder pressed into my stomach, and his hand, god, his hand was on my thigh, holding me steady. His scent surrounded me. Overwhelmed me. I breathed it in without meaning to, and my whole body went warm and tingly. Stop it. Stop thinking about how good he smells. Stop noticing how strong he is. This is Asher's brother. Asher. Who was probably still in bed with Celeste right now. The bar had gone silent. Every single person was staring. Lucian turned to the bartender and pulled out his wallet with his free hand, somehow managing to keep me balanced on his shoulder. He dropped several bills on the counter, way more than I'd spent. "For her drinks. Keep the change." The bartender's mouth opened and closed like a fish. Then we were moving. Cool night air hit my face as Lucian carried me outside. "Wait." I lifted my head, trying to see where we were going. "That's not the way to my house." "I know." "Then where—" "Hotel. You can't go home like this." Hotel. The word echoed in my fuzzy brain. He was taking me to a hotel. Alone. The two of us. An image flashed through my mind, Lucian above me, those grey eyes dark with want, his hands on my skin. No. No, no, no. What was wrong with me? I was drunk. I was heartbroken. I was thinking absolutely insane thoughts about my ex-boyfriend's brother. Ex-boyfriend. Was Asher my ex now? We hadn't broken up. But we were broken. He'd broken us. Broken me. We stopped. A door opened. Soft light. Expensive carpet under his feet. Lucian set me down on something soft. A bed. Hotel bed. We were in a hotel room. He stepped back, running a hand through his dark hair. Then he shrugged off his jacket and draped it over a chair. The movement made his shirt pull tight across his shoulders, and I could see the shape of muscles underneath. Stop looking. But I couldn't. My eyes followed him as he moved around the room. Every gesture was controlled. Precise. Like he was dangerous and knew it, so he had to be careful with every movement. He sat on the edge of the bed and pressed the back of his hand against my forehead. His skin felt cool against my flushed face. "You're burning up." His hand moved to my cheek. His thumb brushed just under my eye, so gentle I almost cried again. Why was he being nice to me? Nobody was ever this nice to me. Heat rolled through my body in waves. The room felt too small. Too warm. My clothes felt too tight, suffocating. I sat up and pulled my shirt over my head. "What are you doing?" Lucian's voice had gone rough. Cool air hit my skin. Better. I reached for my jeans. "Rain." His hand caught my wrist. "Stop." I looked up at him. His eyes had darkened from light grey to something closer to smoke. They moved over my face, down to my bra, then quickly away. But I'd seen it. That flash of want. And something in me, something reckless and hurt and desperate, wanted to see it again. I leaned closer. My hand found his chest, felt his heart beating fast under my palm. "I want you," I whispered. His whole body went rigid. His eyes locked on mine, and what I saw there made my breath catch. They'd gone completely dark, pupils blown wide, swallowing the grey. Hungry. Dangerous. Like he was barely holding himself back.